Reykjavik, Iceland and the End

Well, this is my last post from Iceland. I am glad to be going home but I probably could spend another couple of days here. I am just getting used to knowing my way around. The city has changed drastically today. There is a conference of political science academics and there are 2000 participants. They are everywhere and it makes the city a little too crowded.

I learned some interesting facts about Iceland today. Their language is a combination of Old Norse and Gaelic. The lineage of the people is Norse, English and Irish. The men were Norse and the women were captured and brought there from England and Ireland. The people are very blond and blue-eyed. Their language is completely unrecognizable to me.

Today I took a full day tour out into the countryside. I saw a church in the middle of nowhere which was rebuilt in 1986 by contributions of the other Scandinavian countries. The original church was built with Norwegian wood. (Ah, isn’t it good, Norwegian wood!) From here we went to Gullfoss. This is a very beautiful and powerful waterfall. The spray from it was pretty heavy.

At the gift shop here, I was looking at some mittens when this Chinese woman came up to me and started to pull on my coat. When I said something to her, she was startled; she thought I was a mannequin.

Our next stop was the geysers. It was quite a show. The main geyser performed every 5-7 minutes. It was fantastic. The water was 212 degrees. HOT! The scenery everywhere was just unbelievable. It is much greener than I thought. There were farms for sheep, horses and growing vegetables. Really surprising!  The landscape was scattered with summer homes. Our last attraction was the continental rift between North America and Europe. You could walk between the plates. This was great experience.

Back in Reykjavik, I headed out to dinner and then walked around waiting for the sunset. I walk over to the new convention center and then to the harbor. What a beautiful sunset!

As I leave it, I liked it here. I would come back for a long weekend. As fall approaches the weather is like our October. It is actually very nice and clear and it still stays light until 9:30 PM.

Anyway my next and probably last post will be from home. See you all soon.

I am sure the Norwegian wood was much nicer

Gullfoss

Geothermal area

The Geyser

Another geyser shot

Beautiful Scenery

The Continental Rift

Pretty Reflection

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Sunset on the harbor

The new convention center

A picture from inside the convention center

Say this 3 times fast

The main street at night

The Cathedral at Night

Weather People Can be Wrong-Thank God!

The forcast for Reykjavik for today was heavy rain. It turned out partly sunny and it was a relativiely mid day. Remember, I said relatively- about 55 degrees. Since it was nice I headed back up to the big church on the hill. You can go up to the top and et a panoramic view of Reykjavik. It was really beautiful.

Since the weather had improved, I decided to take a whale watch. It left for the harbor at 12:55 and it was a 3 hour tour. You will be happy to know that the ship was not the Minnow. It went about an hour out of hte harbor and we started seeing dolphins, porpoises and minke whales. It was a pretty good cruise but it did get cold up on deck. Towards the end of an hour of whale viewing, mist and fog came rolling in and the boat headed back in a hurry before we began calling the first mate, Gilligan.

Now the rain had arrive but not torrential. I was still able to walk around and see the Parliament building and the original Cathedral of Reykjavik. Although the Vikings were here 1000 years ago, there buildings begin in the mid 1800's.

I just came from a thermal hot bath. It was 104 degrees. Very Relaxing! It really turned out to be a nice day. The sunset was beautiful. (Of course, I left my camera in my room.) Well there is always tomorrow night. The forecast for tomorrow is a good one. I have a tour of some of the natural features in the country. Hopefull some good pictures will result.

Looks Better in the Sunshine

Reykjavik's Main Street

Another view of Reykjavik

A view from the Cathedral

A Boutique Window

Leif Ericsson

A Glacier Covered Mountain

A Couple of Dolphins

A Minke Whale

The Original Cathedral of Reykjavik

The Harbor in the Sunlight

Two Icelandic Ducks

Lunch!

Hertford, Herreford and Reykjavik

Well, I am in Reykjavik, Iceland tonight. It is about 50 degrees and raining. It was dark by 10:00 PM- so much for the Midnight Sun!
I got out of London without a hitch other than the usual delays on the Piccadilly Line. Yesterday we went to have lunch in Hertford (pronouced Hartford) with some friends that Baljeet went to school with. We went to the Hertford Hotel and we ate in the garden. The service was so bad that they finally took 50% off the bill. Otherwise, it was a very nice afternoon. Hertford was a very old town. There was a Pilgrim statue of a Samuel Stone, who they claim founded Hartford, Connecticut. There is a castle there, which is really a manor house and we get to walk around the grounds. It was a warm, sunny day and the town was nice.
On to Iceland and a new time zone! I have a really nice little apartment right on the main street. I feel like I am in an IKEA catalogue. I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Reykjavik. It really is a village. The whole country has about 300,000 people. The streets are narrow and everything is very close together. Every store sells winter clothes. There is also a pretty harbor and I hope to take a whale watching cruise tomorrow-weather permitting.
Things are very expensive here. Food especially is outrageous but I went to a very nice place tonight and, although expensive it was very good. I had a window seat overlooking a sculpture of am man hanging his head. I must have watched at least 20 people take their picture with the statue- some comforting him and some mimicing. It was pretty entertaining.
Homes here are  ery nordic looking. I really thought it would be more modern. They are made of corragated metal, painted nice colors. As there are no trees here, there is very little wooden constrution and few flower gardens.
Tomorrow I will spend a day in the city and go for a geothermal bath. Until then. So Long!

Quaint Hertford

Entrance to the Manor House in Hertford

Samuel Stone- holding Frommer's Guide to Connecticut

One of the local hotels

My Apartment

Window of a local shop
 (speaks volumes about what there is to do here.)

Reykjavik Harbor

The Catholic Cathedral-
 Landkoskirkja

A typical house

The Statue that needs comforting

The National Catherdral-
The Hallgrimskirkja Church designed by Icelandic architect-Guojon Samuelsson

One of the main streets

London by Day and Night

I got my camera back and it is really clean and taking great pictures again. (Just as an aside, I saw a Japanese woman with a red Pentax camera just like mine.) Last night I went into London and and saw Billy Elliot. It was fantastic. The dancing and the acting were just wonderful. It was nice to be out in London. On the way back, I stopped at Oxford Circus and took a few pictures.
Last night energized me to do some sightseeing. I was on my way to London at 9:45 AM. I started in Liecester Square. I then went to Trafalgar Square. Everywhere I went it was mobbed. What recession! Continuing I walked to the Thames an took pictures of the Eye and Big Ben. On to Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace, I continued to follow huge crowds. I walked through the gardens across from the Palace. I even knocked on the door of St. James Palace, but Wills and Kate weren't home. Too bad, I did not want to just leave the waffle iron I bought them for their wedding gift so I guess they are out of luck.
I met Baljeet and Roger at 2:15PM to see "Fela". It was a dancing musical about  a black revolutionary from Nigeria. It was ok. I thought that the dancing could have been better. The lead was very good. He was talented  and played a great sax. The play was a little to long as well. After the play, we walked around Islington. This is the new trendy area in London. It reminds of Boston's South End. We had dinner at an outside Italian Cafe.  It was very nice.
We caught a bus to Piccadilly Circus and we walked around, stopping at Covent Gardens and Liecester Square. We had frozen yogurt at a place called SNOG. It is a brand new company. Funky place!
We walked all over looking for a bus. We finally found one that would take us North. We stopped a Brick Lane. It was a mix of clubs, pubs and restaurants. Many of the restaurants are Pakistani and Bangladeshi. It was quite a place. Then, back on the bus and we were home in no time.  I will say I over did the leg today. Hopefully tomorrow it will be back to normal.
Probably my next post will be fron Iceland. Talk to you then.

Trafalgar Square

The London Eye

Walking Over the Thames

The Thames River

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace- The flag is up, the Queen is in! Knock! Knock!

St. James Park

The Slug and Lettuce- A new restaurant chain. Appetizing!

 No Caption Needed

London's New Yogurt Shop-SNOG

Baljeet and Roger at SNOG

Sunset in London

Covent Garden Shoppe

London's MBTA

Brick Lane

A Local Pub

Oxford Circus at Night

A double-decker bus

The bus to Piccardilly Circus